Equĭtes
(horsemen or knights). The
equites were originally a real division of
the Roman army. At the beginning of the kingly period they were called Celeres, and their
number is said to have been 300, chosen in equal parts from the three tribes of the Ramnes,
Tities, and Luceres. (See
Tribus.) A hundred formed a
centuria, each
centuria being named after the tribe
from which it was taken. Thirty made a
turma, and ten were under the
command of a
decurio (q. v.), while the whole corps was commanded by the
tribunus celerum. During the course of the kingly period the body of
equites was increased to sixteen
centuriae, and the constitution of
Servius Tullius finally raised it to eighteen. When the twelve new centuries were formed,
consisting of the richest persons in the State, whose income exceeded that of the first class
in the census, the corps of equites lost the exclusively patrician character which had
hitherto distinguished it. At the same time its military importance was diminished, as it no
longer formed the first rank, but took up a position on the wings of the phalanx. (See
Exercitus.) The equites, however, retained both in the
State and in the army their personal prestige. In the Comitia they voted first, and in
centuriae of their own. They were the most distinguished troops in the army.
No other soldiers were in a position to keep two horses and a groom apiece, a costly luxury,
although they received an allowance for the purchase and keep of their horse. After the
introduction of the pay system they received three times as much as the ordinary troops; on
occasion of a triumph three times the ordinary share of booty; and at the foundation of a
colony a much larger allotment than the ordinary colonist. The 1800
equites
equo publico, or equites whose horses were purchased and kept by the State, were chosen
every five years, at the census. The election was carried out in the republican period
originally by the consuls, but in later times by the censors. After the general census was
completed, the censors proceeded to review the equites (
recognitio). They
were arranged according to their tribes, and each of them, leading his horse by the hand,
passed before the tribunal of the censors in the Forum. All who had served their time, and who
were physically incapacitated, received their discharge. If an eques were judged unworthy of
his position, he was dismissed with the words, “Sell your horse”
(
Vende equum). If there were nothing against him, he was passed on with the
words
Traduc equum (“Lead your horse past”). The vacancies
were then filled up with suitable candidates, and the new list (
album
equitum) read aloud. In later times, the eques whose name was first read out was called
princeps iuventutis. See
Princeps.
During their time of service (between the ages of 17 and 46) the equites were bound to
serve in a number of campaigns not exceeding ten. When their service expired, they passed into
the first censorial class. The senators alone among the equites were, in earlier times,
allowed to keep their
equus publicus, their name on the roll, and their
rights as equites unimpaired. But of this privilege the senators were deprived in the time of
the Gracchi. The
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Representation of the Ceremony of Transvectio on Roman Censorial Coins.
(Spanheim.)
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number of the
equites equo publico remained the same, as no
addition was made to the sum expended by the State on the horses. Young men of property
sometimes served on their own horses (
equo privato) without any share in
the political privileges of the equites. After the Second Punic War the body of equites
gradually lost its military position, and finally ceased to exist as a special troop. In the
first century B.C. the members of the equestrian
centuriae only served in
the
cohors praetoria of the general, or in the capacity of military
tribunes and
praefecti of cohorts.
The wealthy class, who were in possession of the large capital which enabled them to
undertake the farming of the public revenues, and who consequently had the opportunity of
enriching themselves still further, had long enjoyed a very influential position. In B.C. 123
the
lex iudiciaria of Gaius Gracchus transferred to the possessors of the
equestrian census (400,000 sestertii, or about $17,000) the right to sit on juries, which had
previously belonged exclusively to members of the Senate. Thus an
ordo
equester, or third order, standing between the Senate and the people, was formed, which
began to play an important part in politics. Its members were called equites even if they were
not enrolled in the
centuriae equitum. The contests between the Senate
and the equites for the exclusive right to sit on the juries continued with varying fortunes
until the end of the Republic. Augustus allowed the
ordo equester to
continue in existence as a class in possession of a certain income; but the old fiscal and
judicial system came to an end, and the
ordo accordingly lost all its
former importance. On the other hand, the equites proper rose into a position of great
consideration. They were divided into six
turmae, headed by an imperial
prince as
princeps iuventutis. True, they had no further standing as a
corporation; but the emperor employed them in a variety of confidential posts. The title
eques equo publico was necessary for the attainment of the
office of military tribune, and for a number of the most important military posts. The power
of conferring or withdrawing the title came at length to rest with the emperor alone. The
review of the equites, which used to take place every five years, now became a mere ceremony,
and was united by Augustus with the ancient annual parade (
transvectio）
of the 15th of July. The equites, in full uniform, rode through the Fórum to the
Capitol, past the Temple of Mars or Honos.
After the transference of the seat of government to Constantinople, the
turmae equitum sank into the position of a city corporation, standing between the
Senate and the guilds, and in possession of special privileges. The insignia of the equites
were a gold ring and a narrow purple border on the tunic. (See Clavus Angustus;
Ius Anuli Aurei;
Tunica.) At the
transvectio they wore the
trabea, a mantle adorned with purple stripes, and crowns of olive. After B.C.
67 the first fourteen rows in the theatre were assigned to them.
See Zumpt,
Ueber die römischen Ritter, etc.
(Berlin,
1840); Marquardt,
Historiae Equitum Romanorum (Berlin,
1840); Mommsen,
Röm. Staatsrecht, iii. 476-569; and the
paragraph on the
cursus honorum under
Honores.
